Two Gates, Then the Check — and Nothing Held Back

The problem in one breath

The crew's done Thursday and wants paid Friday. You haven't been on the roof yet, the homeowner hasn't paid, and you either write the check on faith or you stall and watch the crew's next job go to the shop that didn't. Either way you're the one holding the bag when the valley leaks in March.

Why it happens

Money that moves before the roof is checked pays for whatever is up there, good or not. Money that moves before the homeowner pays comes out of your account, not the job's, and enough of those Fridays is how a busy season ends with no cash. Most shops solve it by holding back a slice of every check for months, and then wonder why the good crews stopped picking up. The crew isn't being paid for the roof anymore; it's being paid for waiting.

We do it with two gates instead of a holdback. Gate one: our project manager walks the roof, and the punch list is cleared and walked again. Gate two: the customer's final payment is in the bank. When both are open the check goes out — fast, in full, nothing held. A crew that knows exactly what opens the gates, and knows the check comes the moment they do, will get the roof through them on its own, because it's the shortest path to its money.

The play

1. Say the two gates on day one, before the first roof. In the sit-down, and on the paper next to the price: the check moves when the inspection passes and the customer has paid. Not on pay day by the calendar, not on his invoice date. A crew that learns this on a Friday hears it as a trick.
2. Gate one is the walk, not the text. Your project manager walks the roof against the checkpoints (Module 12, Play 3). Anything off the spec goes on a punch list the crew lead gets that day, the crew fixes it, and the roof gets walked again. The gate opens when the second walk is clean, and never before.
3. Gate two is the customer's final payment. That puts your collections on the crew's calendar, which is exactly the point: a slow final draw is now your fire to put out that week, not a thing you get around to (Module 6, Play 1). If you'd rather pay the crew on a fixed day whether or not she's paid, that's the pay-day promise (Module 12, Play 5) — an honest way to run it, and a cash cushion is the price of it. Pick one and put it on the paper. What you can't do is say one and run the other.
4. When both gates are open, pay fast and pay all of it. The check goes out the day the second gate opens — not the next pay run, not "when the office gets to it." No retainage, no ten percent sitting in your account against a leak. Speed is what the crew remembers, and it's the cheapest loyalty you will ever buy.
5. The warranty is what makes no holdback safe. The crew's owner warrants its work for a year on the master agreement (Module 12, Play 2). A leak in March is his callback first, at his cost, and you don't need to sit on his money to make that true — the next job is the leverage.
6. A crew that fights the gates fails the gates. Talk once about a roof that keeps missing the walk. Twice, and it's the same talk with a date on it. The third time it isn't working out for either of you, and you say so plainly (Module 3, Play 9).

Do this this week

Write the two gates on one page and hand it to every crew that starts a roof for you this week, before the roof. Next check you cut, cut it the day the second gate opens.

The tool

The two-gates card — what has to be true before the check moves, one page per crew:

HOW YOU GET PAID — two gates, then the check, nothing held back

Crew: ______________________  Job: ______________________

GATE 1 — THE WALK
  [ ] Our project manager walks the roof against the checkpoints
  [ ] Anything off the spec goes on a punch list, same day
  [ ] The punch list is fixed and the roof is walked again — clean
  [ ] Photos at every checkpoint are in

GATE 2 — THE CUSTOMER HAS PAID
  [ ] Her final payment is in our bank — not promised, in

THEN
  The check is cut the day gate 2 opens. All of it. Nothing held.
  Your warranty on this roof runs ______ months — a callback is yours
  first, at your cost, per the master agreement.

IF THE WALK FINDS SOMETHING
  You hear it from ____________ (name, number) that day, with photos.
  Fix it, we walk it again, gate 1 opens.

The Spanish twin is the Spanish card.

If your crew is 1099

The two gates are terms between two companies, so they belong on the master agreement in writing, in the crew owner's own words if you can get them. Two things to check before you lean on them. Tying a sub's pay to the customer paying you is a clause your state may or may not let you enforce the way it reads, so have your attorney look at how it's worded. And none of this applies to a crew on your payroll: wages are owed when the hours are worked, not when the homeowner pays or the roof passes, and holding a paycheck against either is a wage-law problem in most states — for payroll crews the gates decide the piece-rate extras and the raise, never the base check.

One more thing: this play is how we run a shop — it's not legal advice. Rules change by state and by contract, so before you act on the legal-sounding parts, run them past your own attorney or accountant. It's your business, and what you do with any of this is your call and your responsibility.